Mobile-trailer tracking system and method

• US 6,687,609 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2002
• Issued: 02/03/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deere & Company
• Original Assignee: Navcom Technology, Inc. (Deere & Company)
• Inventors: Williams, William Peter, Hsiao, Victor K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hernandez, Olga
• Application Number:
  US10/171,586
• Publication Number:
  US 20030233189A1
• Time in Patent Office: 600 Days
• Field of Search: 701/207, 701/200, 731/78.R, 340/988, 340/993, 342/27
• US Class Current: 701/207
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

A position tracking system for a plurality of mobile tractors and trailers includes an unique electronic identifier for each of a plurality of trailers. For each tractor of a plurality of tractors, the position tracking system includes a navigation system for determining a current position of the tractor, an electronic identifier reader for acquiring the electronic identifier of a trailer coupled to the tractor, and a position-reporting subsystem for reporting to a remote system the current position of the tractor and the electronic identifier of the trailer coupled to the tractor. In addition, the position tracking system includes, at each facility of a plurality of fixed-location facilities, one or more electronic identifier readers for acquiring the electronic identifier of one or more trailers located within the facility, and a trailer-presence reporting subsystem for reporting to the remote system the presence of the one or more trailers located within the facility.

Claims

1. A position tracking system for a plurality of mobile tractors and trailers comprising:

an unique electronic identifier for each of a plurality of trailers;

for each tractor of a plurality of tractors;

a navigation system for determining a current position of the tractor;

an electronic identifier reader for acquiring the electronic identifier of a trailer, of the plurality of trailers, coupled to the tractor; and

a position-reporting subsystem, coupled to the navigation system and to the electronic identifier reader, for reporting to a remote system the current position of the tractor and the electronic identifier of the trailer coupled to the tractor;

at each facility of a plurality of fixed-location facilities;

one or more electronic identifier readers for acquiring the electronic identifier of one or more trailers, of the plurality of trailers, located within the facility;

a trailer-presence reporting subsystem, coupled to the one or more electronic identifier readers of the facility, for reporting to the remote system the presence of the one or more trailers located within the facility.

2. The position tracking system of claim 1, wherein each trailer of a subset of the plurality of trailers contains a plurality of sensors, the plurality of sensors being in communication with the unique electronic identifier of each trailer, and wherein the unique electronic identifier of each trailer further contains status information obtained from a subset of the plurality of sensors.

3. The position tracking system of claim 2, wherein, for each tractor in the plurality of tractors, the electronic identifier reader is also used for acquiring the status information of a trailer, of the subset of the plurality of trailers, coupled to the tractor, and further wherein the position-reporting subsystem is also used for reporting to the remote system the status information of the trailer coupled to the tractor.

4. The position tracking system of claim 2, wherein the sensors include at least one sensor selected from the set of:

door locks sensor;

door open sensor;

cargo present sensor;

refrigerator temperature sensor;

cargo type sensor;

cargo weight sensor; and

battery power sensor.

5. The position tracking system of claim 1, wherein the remote system is configured to receive reports from the position-reporting subsystems of the plurality of tractors, and from the trailer-presence reporting subsystems of the plurality of fixed location facilities, and further including a database for storing information, associated with the received reports, regarding the plurality of mobile tractors and trailers.

6. The position tracking system of claim 5, wherein the database further indicates when a trailer couples to a tractor based upon the time at which the tractor reports to the remote system, through its position-reporting subsystem, the electronic identifier of the trailer coupled to the tractor.

7. The position tracking system of claim 6, wherein the database further indicates a location of the trailer when it couples to the tractor, as reported to the remote system by the position-reporting subsystem of the coupled tractor.

8. The position tracking system of claim 5, wherein the database further indicates when a trailer leaves a facility, based upon the trailer being reported as present at the facility by the trailer-presence reporting subsystem of the facility, and based upon the trailer being recently coupled to a tractor, as reported by the tractor through its position-reporting subsystem.

9. The position tracking system of claim 5, wherein each facility of the plurality of fixed-location facilities has one or more egress areas, and further wherein a subset of the one or more electronic identifier readers at each facility are located proximate to a subset of the one or more egress areas.

10. The position tracking system of claim 9, wherein the database further indicates when a trailer leaves a facility based upon the trailer being recently coupled to a tractor, as reported by the tractor through its position-reporting subsystem, and based upon the trailer being reported as proximate to an egress area, as detected by the one or more electronic identifier readers and reported by the trailer-presence reporting subsystem of the facility.

11. The position tracking system of claim 5, wherein the database further indicates when a trailer arrives at a facility, based upon the trailer being coupled to a tractor as reported by the position-reporting subsystem of the tractor, and based upon the trailer being reported as present at the facility by the trailer-presence reporting subsystem of the facility.

12. The position tracking system of claim 5, wherein each facility of the plurality of fixed-location facilities has one or more ingress areas, and further wherein a subset of the one or more electronic identifier readers at each facility are located proximate to a subset of the one or more ingress areas.

13. The position tracking system of claim 12, wherein the database further indicates when a trailer arrives at a facility based upon the trailer being coupled to a tractor, as reported by the tractor through its position-reporting subsystem, and based upon the trailer being reported as proximate to an ingress area, as detected by the one or more electronic identifier readers and reported by the trailer-presence reporting subsystem of the facility.

14. The position tracking system of claim 12, wherein at least one of the ingress areas is an ingress/egress area, and further wherein the one or more electronic identifier readers proximate to the ingress/egress area comprise at least two electronic identifier readers, one of the at least two electronic identifier readers being utilized to acquire the electronic identifiers of trailers leaving the facility, and another of the at least two electronic readers being utilized to acquire the electronic identifiers of trailers arriving at the facility.

15. The position tracking system of claim 14, wherein the electronic identifier reader proximate to the ingress/egress area utilized to acquire the electronic identifiers of trailers leaving the facility is positioned to acquire electronic identifiers in a different direction than the electronic identifier reader proximate to the ingress/egress area utilized to acquire the electronic identifiers of trailers arriving at the facility.

16. The position tracking system of claim 5, wherein the database further indicates when a trailer decouples from a tractor based upon when the tractor reports to the remote system, through its position-reporting subsystem, that the tractor'"'"'s electronic identifier reader is no longer acquiring the electronic identifier of the trailer.

17. The position tracking system of claim 1, further comprising:

at the remote system;

a position-receiving subsystem, coupled to the remote system, for receiving signals from the position-reporting subsystems of the plurality of tractors;

a trailer-presence receiving subsystem, coupled to the remote system, for receiving signals from the trailer-presence reporting subsystems of the plurality of fixed-location facilities;

a tractor-trailer position processor, coupled to the position-receiving subsystem and to the trailer-presence receiving subsystem, for processing the received signals from the position-reporting subsystems of the plurality of tractors to determine the current positions of the plurality of tractors, and to determine the electronic identifiers of the trailers coupled to the plurality of tractors, and wherein the tractor-trailer position processor is also for processing the received signals from the trailer-presence reporting subsystems of the plurality of fixed-location facilities to determine the presence of one or more trailers located within the plurality of fixed-location facilities; and

a database of mobile trailers indicating, for each trailer in a subset of the plurality of mobile trailers, at least one entry selected from the group consisting of;

a current position of the trailer;

the presence of the trailer in a facility;

a coupled tractor; and

a current position of the coupled tractor.

18. The position tracking system of claim 5, wherein the database of the remote system further includes a log file containing at least one record selected from the group consisting of:

A) a plurality of information records, indicating for each tractor of the plurality of tractors, historical position information for the tractor;

B) a plurality of information records, indicating for each tractor of the plurality of tractors, a list of the electronic identifiers of trailers historically coupled to the tractor;

C) a plurality of information records, indicating for each trailer of the plurality of trailers, historical position information for the trailer;

D) a plurality of information records, indicating for each trailer of the plurality of trailers, a list of tractors to which the trailer has historically been coupled; and

E) a plurality of information records, indicating for each facility of the plurality of fixed-location facilities, a list of one or more trailers historically reported as being present within the facility.

19. The position tracking system of claim 18, wherein the tractor-trailer position processor determines, using the historical position information for a tractor, at least one of a velocity and a direction of travel for the tractor.

20. The position tracking system of claim 1, further comprising, at each facility of the plurality of fixed-location facilities, one or more yard tractors, each yard tractor having an electronic identifier reader for acquiring the electronic identifier of a trailer, of the plurality of mobile trailers, attached to the yard tractor, each yard tractor further having a yard-operations reporting subsystem, coupled to its electronic identifier reader, for reporting to the trailer-presence reporting subsystem the attachment of the trailer to the yard tractor for yard operations.

21. The position tracking system of claim 1, wherein the electronic identifier readers of the plurality of tractors and of the plurality of fixed-location facilities include a transmitter for querying the unique electronic identifier of each trailer of the plurality of mobile trailers.

22. The position tracking system of claim 21, wherein the transmitter comprises a wireless transmitter, and wherein the query indicates a transmission level, and further wherein the unique electronic identifier of each trailer includes a wireless return transmitter for transmitting the electronic identifier of the trailer at the indicated transmission level when queried by the wireless transmitter.

23. The position tracking system of claim 22, wherein the transmission level of an electronic identifier reader of a facility is higher than the transmission level of an electronic reader of a tractor.

24. The position tracking system of claim 1, wherein each trailer of a subset of the plurality of trailers is capable of carrying cargo, and further wherein a trailer-load of cargo includes an electronic cargo identifier, and further wherein the electronic identifier reader of a subset of the plurality of tractors includes an extension into the interior of a coupled trailer, through a wired tractor-trailer connection, for acquiring the electronic cargo identifier of a trailer-load of cargo, and further wherein the position-reporting subsystem of the subset of tractors is also used for reporting the electronic cargo identifier of the trailer-load of cargo of a coupled trailer to the remote system.

25. The position tracking system of claim 1, wherein the unique electronic identifiers of the plurality of trailers comprise RFID transponders, and the electronic identifier readers of the plurality of tractors and of the plurality of fixed-location facilities comprise RFID transceivers.

26. A method of maintaining a mobile tractor-trailer database for use in a position tracking system for a plurality of mobile tractors, mobile trailers, and fixed-location yards, each trailer of the plurality of mobile trailers having an unique identifier, the unique identifier of each trailer being identifiable by a tractor to which the trailer is coupled, the unique identifier of each trailer also being identifiable by a fixed-location yard in which the trailer is located, each tractor of the plurality of tractors having a navigation system for determining a current position of the tractor, the method comprising:

receiving, at a remote system, a report from a communication device on a tractor indicating a current position of the tractor, and indicating an electronic identifier of a first trailer coupled to the tractor;

receiving, at the remote system, a report from a communication device at a fixed-location facility indicating the electronic identifier of a second trailer present in the facility; and

storing in the mobile tractor-trailer database at least one entry selected from the group consisting of;

a representation of the electronic identifier of the first trailer;

an indication that the first trailer is coupled to the tractor;

a position, affiliated with the first trailer, representing the current position of the tractor;

a representation of the electronic identifier of the second trailer; and

an indication that the second trailer is present in the facility.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising storing in the mobile tractor-trailer database an indication of when the first trailer couples to the tractor, based upon the time at which the tractor reports to the remote system, through its communication device, the electronic identifier of the first trailer coupled to the tractor.

28. The position tracking system of claim 27, further comprising storing in the mobile tractor-trailer database a location of the first trailer when it couples to the tractor, as reported by the communication device of the tractor to the remote system.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising storing in the mobile tractor-trailer database an indication of when the second trailer leaves the facility, based upon the second trailer being reported as present at the facility by the communication device of the facility, and based upon the second trailer being recently coupled to a second tractor, as reported by the second tractor through its communication device.

30. The method of claim 26, further comprising storing in the mobile tractor-trailer database an indication of when the second trailer arrives at the facility, based upon the second trailer being coupled to a second tractor, as reported by the second tractor through its communication device, and based upon the second trailer being reported as present at the facility by the communication device of the facility.

31. The method of claim 26, further comprising storing in the mobile tractor-trailer database an indication of when the first trailer decouples from the tractor based upon when the tractor reports to the remote system, through its communication device, that the tractor'"'"'s electronic identifier reader no longer is acquiring the electronic identifier of the first trailer.